Chinese Consul General Gao Zhansheng was invited to the Premier of 'Wing of the Phoenix': Dr Fengshan Ho and the Rescue of Austrian Jews 1938-1940 Exhibit on June 7, 2012 at the Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco.
"A superior man in dealing with the world is not for anything or against anything. He follows righteousness as the standard." Consul General Gao quoted one of the Confucius sayings as he began his remarks. "Dr. Ho was precisely a man who always followed righteousness and conscience. He was one of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who rescued Jews at great personal risk and sacrifice during World War II and never sought recognition. His heroic deeds are a demonstration of selfless humanitarianism and compassionate nature of the Chinese people. The Jewish people, likewise, extended a helping hand to the Chinese people in China's War of Resistance against Japan's Invasion in the 1930's and 40's."
"This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between China and Israel. The past 20 years have witnessed rapid growth of China-Israel relations. I sincerely hope that China and Israel continue their close engagement and cooperation for the next 20 years and beyond." He said.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, Israeli Consul General for the Pacific Northwest region Akiva Tor, Director of the American Jewish Committee Mervyn Danker and other guests also paid a tribute to the courageous Chinese diplomat who rescued thousands of Jews from the Holocaust during World War II by issuing Chinese visas despite seemingly impossible odds.
Manli Ho, Dr. Fengshan Ho's daughter, made a special presentation on her father's heroic deeds.
The exhibit is one of the events under the month-long Israel-China Cultural Festival launched by the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, in cooperation with Jewish community organizations and partners in the San Francisco Chinese-American community to celebrate and reveal the historic and new interactions between the peoples and cultures of Israel and China.